Pioneer organic farmer and Frog Holler owner Ken King dies

Before he became one of Ann Arbor's organic food pioneers, Ken King was a young man with a carpentry job downtown.

With a portable hot plate, he made his own meals while on the job. He quickly drew admirers, who wanted a taste of his cooking.

King, who died on May 5, had followed his love of wholesome, organic food to develop Frog Holler Organic Farm in Brooklyn, Mich.

Ken King

King and three partners bought the property in 1972. When his partners pursued different interests several years later, he stayed on to run the farm, and it became a family business.

Plans for a memorial service are still being developed.

The Frog Holler business will continue to be run by King's wife, Cathy, and sons Billy, Kenny and Edwin.

"Ken's instincts were really for local produce, before there was a name for it, before there was a movement," said his wife, Cathy.
"It was basically Ken's energy that really spearheaded the natural food movement in Ann Arbor," said Rick Peshkin, one of King's former partners who went on to open the Produce Station market on State Street.

King started selling his organic vegetables and herbs at the Ann Arbor Farmer's Market in the mid-1970s. If he wasn't the first organic grower to do so, he was one of the very first.

There was nothing in King's background that would lead anybody to suspect he had an organically green thumb. A native of Traverse City, King graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in engineering. He then spent some time at Harvard Divinity School, before returning to Ann Arbor, where he did carpentry jobs.

King and a few friends scraped together some money to buy a restaurant at the current site of Shaman Drum Bookshop on State Street. They changed its name to the Indian Summer Natural Foods Restaurant, and began serving meals that reflected their commitment to cooking wholesome, locally sourced fresh food from scratch. Using canned food was banned. King was the head chef.

They searched the state for local growers and bought some organic vegetables from as far away as California. To supply the restaurant, the partners acquired roughly 160 acres of a rolling and wooded wildlife sanctuary in 1972. As a condition of the sale, the partners had to retain the name of the property, Frog Holler, and adhere to a list of conditions to keep its natural character.

A professional advised them that the property wasn't suitable for a farm, but King was determined that he could fit the plots of vegetables between the natural features. Today about two to five acres is farmed.